Arizona fun!

Wow! I'm so sorry I haven't gotten around to blogging in the last week. I could say I've been too busy, but that's not true. Alex and I have been pretty relaxed and not too rushed with anything, but we have seen a ton since my last post. I'm not going to bore you with every single detail. I only will highlight my favorite parts of these last 8 days.

First off is Phoenix, AZ; Phoenix is an insanely huge town in the middle of the desert. The actual city only has 4 million people, and the surrounding area has 6.5 million! Why in the heck would so many freaking people want to live in this area? Supposedly, it's the weather. Yeah, the weather is perfect during the winter, averaging 70 degrees, but in the summer its in the 100s. There is barely any green grass and trees are sparse, but I guess there is something about the desert and climate that attracts people to this place. I do have to say that the architecture is amazing! Much of the architecture is inspired by Frank Loyd Wright and there are a lot of great architects who come out of ASU.  So, it's plain to see why the architecture is amazing. Unfortunately, Alex and I didn't get very many pictures because our stinking camera ran out of batteries and we didn't have access to charging it until later in the day when we stayed with some old church friends. The capital in Phoenix had an awesome museum and it was free. I love it when I can learn history for free:) I learned about everything I wanted to know about Arizona.

My mom informed me that I have a cousin in Phoenix and gave me his phone number. I called him up and found out he lived in Tempe, which is south of Phoenix and home to ASU, in other words; a college town. I was so excited to meet a cousin of mine that I had never met before. I have cousins all over the U.S that I have never met and I'm hoping to meet most of them on this trip across the country. My cousin's name is Lyle and he was so awesome! He and his wife took us to lunch at a very unique restaurant that used to be an adobe home in the 1800s. It felt like we were in an old ranch house. Lyle later took us around Tempe and showed us the lake there and drove us through ASU. My cousin is a retired architect and he actually designed and helped design some of the ASU buildings. He also met Frank Loyd Wright when he was going to architect school. He has a picture with him about 6 months before Frank died. Lyle said he was actually surprised to even get a picture with him because he wasn't a very nice man. Supposedly, he was quite the narcissist.
I absolutely loved Tempe! It just had a good vibe. I think college towns are really cool; they have the unique shops and pubs and the crowds are young. It really makes you feel young, and I love feeling young!

After Phoenix we went to Tucson and stayed with our old youth pastor and his family for the next few days; Dusty and Jamie Farmer. Dusty was an awesome youth pastor. He was super fun and passionate about God, I was happy to see that he hasn't changed. In my opinion, Dusty and Jamie were actually more fun to be around than when I was a high school student. Jamie has so much spunk and energy, and she is very humorous. If you met her you would never imagine she was a mother of three and you would probably think she was in her early 20s. We were able to talk about married stuff and relate to each other on an adult level. I had a blast with them and their kids. Dusty is now a senior pastor at his church which is a little south of Tucson. It is a fairly new church, about 4 years old. God called them out to Tucson to start a church. They didn't have a church building when they first started out. They actually met outside for two years. Yes, you read this right, their church service was outdoors! They patiently waited on the Lord to provide a building for them and it took two years of waiting. Now that is dedication. If it was me, I probably would have thought I heard God wrong after the first 6 months of not having a building to meet in. They now meet at a school and they recently bought 8 acres of land for a 10th of the original asking price. Good thing they waited on the Lord, he was ready to bless them all in good time. I was eager to see if Dusty still had the same preaching style as he did when I was in High School. He always presented God's word in an interesting way that could always capture your attention. We went to their church on Sunday, and I was happy to see that he hasn't changed. He's one of those pastors that is so passionate about God's word and he doesn't have to yell at you to show his passion. It was a true joy to hear him preach. Dusty and Jamie are a neat couple and they were so generous and hospitable to us. Alex and I were blessed by them.

Dusty and Jamie's leading worship

There is a Mission near Tucson that was founded in 1692 and built in 1783. It is probably the most beautiful mission we have been to so far. It is known as the "Dove in the Desert" and it represents Mission Architecture in the U.S. The halls and doorways in the mission were very skinny and short, as you can tell from the pictures. It was a beauty and I'm glad we stopped by to see it.

Inside the Mission San Xavier

Tombstone

From Tucson we went to Tombstone. Growing up I watched tons of old western movies and thought that I would marry a cowboy. I did grow out of the phase, as you can tell:) My sister and I used to play an old western song on our record player; I think it was a song from the western "My name is Nobody," anyways when we played the song, we would pretend our wounded cowboy husbands were coming home to us from a gun fight. We would pretend cry and try to help them recover form their wounds. Pretty silly, huh? We were about ten and eleven years old at the time. Tombstone is often what I had imagined when it came to western towns. It has been well preserved, but is extremely touristy. The people that work in the store and shops are dressed in old time western garb. We went to a saloon that was originally ran by Doc Holiday's brothel girlfriend. I'm assuming from the name of the Saloon that she had a big nose.

My favorite part of Tombstone was visiting Boothill Graveyard. On each tombstone it notes the cause of death, whether it be murder, suicide, shot, hung, natural death, or stabbed. I thought that was really cool that they added the cause of death, because then it makes the death seem more real. When I die I want the cause of my death to be added to my tombstone.

Outside of the caverns

We also went to the Kartchner Caverns; It is a smaller cavern, about two miles total. It was first discovered in the 1970s and wasn't opened to the public until 1999. They say the formations in the caverns are about 200,000 years old. I can see how a geologist would have a hard time believing in a 7 day creation after studying caverns, but the rate of the cavern growth does depend on the amount of water it is exposed to. So, there can be disputable theories on how fast parts of a cavern formed. I was really lost with all the different names for the different formations. It's like another language. The Kartchner Caverns were the first caverns I had ever been in, and it was absolutely amazing! The tour was on the pricey side, but it was worth it! They didn't allow us to take pictures inside the caverns, but they do have fake replicas of some of the caverns in the museum on the site. So, I snapped away at the fake formations:)

Shasta Sloth. The bones of one of these were found in the caverns

The replica cavern formations

Example of how small the crawl spaces were for the cavern explorers

Alex and I have made it to New Mexico. Today is a lazy day for us. Everyone has one of those days where they don't do anything all day and that is what today is for us. Tomorrow our plan is to see Carlsbad Caverns. I'm excited to compare it to Kartchner.